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Antique maps offer historians more than geographic reference; they reveal the political priorities and gaps in knowledge of the era that produced them. Cartographers frequently exaggerated the size of their patron's home territory or left unexplored regions blank, sometimes filling them with speculative coastlines or mythical creatures rather than admitting ignorance. Early maritime charts, called portolan charts, were prized for coastal accuracy along trade routes but often distorted inland areas that sailors rarely visited. The value of an antique map today depends on factors including its rarity, the fame of its cartographer, and its historical significance, such as being among the first to depict a particular coastline. Collectors and libraries alike prize hand-colored examples, though colorists sometimes worked decades after a map's original printing, meaning the coloring itself may not reflect the mapmaker's original intent.